Morning arrived and Natalie took a bath with her daughter while Dan prepared the meals like an obedient house-husband. He prepared two vegetable side-dishes and a nourishing porridge for his wife.
Several minutes later, the two arrived in the dining room and sat before the table filled with fragrant dishes, Dan wore a smug expression and as expected, the two were blown away with his skills that traversed time itself.
Juliet ate until she couldn't move anymore and had to sleep. Natalie walked towards the backyard of the mansion and practiced the moves that she learned from Zaramias while Dan explored the City, bringing with him a pouch of gold coins that he needed to buy himself a weapon.
After asking for information, the people around led him towards the most popular blacksmith shop inside the Commoner's Realm. As Dan continued his journey, he realized the sheer difference between his home Empire and the Empire of Eternal Faith.
Just the armors that the soldiers wore that were made of Hundred Tempered Iron couldn't be compared to the light armors that the soldiers from the Empire of Dawn, wore.
Sighing to himself, Dan walked inside the blacksmith shop and was greeted by a hunchback old man who revealed a small smile upon seeing the customer.
"Welcome, respected customer, How may I help you?" His figure gave an aura of nobility as he bowed, just the light within the old man's eyes along indicated that he wasn't a normal old man.
"Old man, give me the best, curved dagger that you have..." Dan coolly said and hurled his coin pouch as the old man promptly received it in mid-air. Nodding his head, the latter turned and walked towards the insides of the shop.
Upon returning, he brought with him a jet-black curved dagger which looked heavy, yet light when carried. The old man noticed his fascination and explained in an indifferent manner, "That curved dagger is called Nigh Executioner, it's made with Thousand Tempered Obsidian mixed with Deep Sea Silver and finished off with volcanic dew."
"I can guarantee it's quality and your coin pouch seems to have the right amount to buy that without a sheath." The old man lobbed the coin pouch and felt its contents before nodding in satisfaction.
Dan took the dagger from his hands and when he sliced in the air, a buzzing sound of the air being torn apart echoed out, touching the tip of the dagger, his skin broke as a droplet of blood emerged.
'How sharp!' Dan inwardly exclaimed, keeping the Night Executioner in his Virtual Storage, he turned around to leave but stopped upon seeing a sign which said that the blacksmith shop was recruiting apprentices.
'Now that I think about it, I should've unlocked a new sub-system within the Assassination System...' He inwardly thought and discreetly opened the System Menu, pressing on the My Account Icon, Dan's eyes widened in shock. Indeed, the Crafting System that he previously unlocked was there.
"Old man, what are the requirements on becoming an apprentice blacksmith of this shop?" Dan said, and the old man lifted his head in amusement, staring at the young man before him that looked fair and delicate, he couldn't imagine him forging and playing with fire.
But still, his eyes flashed in a complicated light and said, "Forge me a Fifty Tempered Lump of Iron the size of your fist and come back here..." He said these words and Dan nodded his head before leaving.
Walking outside the store, Dan activated the Crafting Sub-System.
[Crafting Sub-System Initializing; 50%]
[Crafting Sub-System Initialized!]
"Sub-System, how do I make a Fifty Tempered Iron?"
[A Fifty Tempered Iron can be automatically made by the System, the host's just needs the appropriate ingredients and place it inside the host's virtual inventory.]
'Wait, what? Automatically made by the System?! This is a goddamned cheat!' He inwardly exclaimed returned towards the blacksmith shop and ordered a lump of Iron the size of his head amidst the old man's amused gaze.
Returning back to his home, Dan found that Natalie tried her best in recreating the recipe that he recorded earlier in the day. Embracing her from behind, Natalie's figure shivered before saying, "Hubby, you scared me..."
Dan chuckled, directed his gaze at the boiling pot that she continuously stirred before saying, "This looks passable, but let's see how you do at dinner..." Dan nodded his head and planted a kiss on her neck, he took some candies that he bought on the way and handed it over towards the child who jumped in joy upon seeing her favorite soft candy.
Ruffling Juliet's head, Dan walked towards the bedroom and placed the lump of Iron atop a porcelain table, opened the Crafting Sub-System and whispered, "Sub-System, Temper this Iron Fifty times; the resulting product's size should be the size of my fist."
[Crafting Sub-System Project Obtained]
[Initializing Factor Values]
[Analyzing Crafting Materials]
[ERROR; No Crafting Materials found inside the Virtual Inventory!]
Dan slapped his forehead because he became too excited, he forgot that he didn't need to take the material out of the Virtual Inventory.
This time, it worked and a holographic image of the lump of Iron being pounded by a virtual hammer floated in the air.
[Project In-progress; 70%]
In just under a minute, the crafting completed, but Dan frowned when he realized that the lump of iron became the size of his fist. However, it didn't look as shiny as before. Instead, it looked dark and its density even doubled.
"System, Analyze!"
[System Function Initiating; 50%]
[System Function Completed!]
[Name: Fifty Tempered Iron]
[Description: An Iron tempered fifty times, its density is double than a normal iron and it is void of impurities thanks to the use of the apex Crafting System.]
The description written in the air made him incomparably excited. Depositing the iron back inside his virtual inventory, Dan took a moment to calm himself before inwardly thinking.
"Not only I can buy items from the Modern World, I can also craft items without exerting any effort..." With eyes flashing in a light of anticipation, he mumbled, "What a goddamned cheat!"